The Staff and Lay Leadership of First Parish



Members of the parish, by discussion and vote at the regular annual meeting and special meetings when needed, set policy, approve budgets, decide by vote upon the need to call a minister, and elect the parish committee which, in close cooperation with the staff, handles the ongoing functions needed to maintain operations. In addition, there is a committee on ministerial relations and an endowment committee which are separate from the parish committee. There are also four officers of the church

The Staff

At this time the staff positions are: 1) the minister, 2) the director of religious education, 3) the musical director/organist, and 4) the church secretary.

The Minister

Stower_3.jpgThe minister is the Rev. Richard M. Stower. He was born in New York City in 1946, raised in a Jewish (Reform) family and spent much of his childhood in New Rochelle, NY. In 1972 he received his MA in American and Modern European History from George Washington University.

In the 1960s he was active in both the civil rights and the anti-Vietnam war movements. In 1990, he escorted two survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on a speaking tour of Massachusetts and New Hampshire high schools. He has served as president of the union locals of the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union.

In 1986 he entered Harvard Divinity School and received his M. Div degree in 1990. He was ordained in his home church, First Parish, Concord, MA and has served as minister of the Kearsarge Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (Potter Place, NH) and the Keene (NH) Unitarian Universalist Church. He has served on the board of directors of the Ballou Channing District of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Currently, he is on the board of directors of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry (Boston) and on the steering committee of the Tuckerman Coalition and is President of the Ballou Channing Chapter of the UU Ministers Association.

Rev. Stower is married to Nancy Richards-Stower, an attorney. Their son, Jonathan, is a junior at Scituate High School

The Director of Religious Education

The RE Director is Pam Molinari

Pam was born in Weymouth, MA, graduated from Weymouth North High School in 1977. Then became a Certified Industrial Hygiene Technician. She is continuing her education through the UUA Renaissance Program for Religious Rducation Directors.

She has been married seventeen years, three daughters, Nicole 23, Elizabeth 16, and Christiana 12. Pam resides in Scituate.

Pam feels that religiously she is an explorer. She was brought up a Catholic, but found this religion too rigid. She went on to explore Eastern Religions. When she found Unitarian Universalism she had finally discovered what she was looking for, a religion with the flexibility to let her explore the mystery of it all.

Her leisure enjoyments have been and are craft oriented; gardening, sewing, and cooking being some favorite activities. She has attended First Parish for seven years, has found being the R.E. Director to be a wonderful addition to life, both spiritually and creatively

The Music Director/Organist

Gerald Peters majored in Theory and Composition at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he studied with Dr. Robert Stern. He also studied Continuo, with Dr. MiriamWhaples and piano with Nigel Coxe and Fernande Kaeser. At the Boston Conservatory he was a private Instrumental Conducting student of Attilio Poto.

From 1982 to 1985 he was co-founder, Music Director,and conductor of the Friends of Music Society, a 35 member amateur chamber orchestra in Newton.

He was music Director and Organist at the First Parish in Kingston for ten and a half years beginning in 1986. During that time he developed the Choir in numbers and range of repertoire. He also was responsible for initiating Thanksgiving Ecumenical Services as well as a Thanksgiving Ecumenical Choir, an annual Christmas Eve choir composed of First Parish members and members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Kingston, and three separate events called "A Celebration of the Arts", which were multimedia events with new art, readings of original poetry, and musical performances.

Mr. Peters has been active for the past twenty years on the South Shore as a private piano teacher as well as a piano tuner and rebuilder. He currently resides in Boston's South End.

The Church Secretary

The Church Office Secretary is Maryjo McNally. Your editor hopes to add some biographical material in the near future.

Lay Leadership

Officers There are four officers of the Church: Moderator, Clerk, Collector and Treasurer

Parish Committee Members of the Parish Committee are elected at the regular annual meeting. Members are normally elected for a two year term, and may not succeed themselves in the same office. In addition to the Chairman of the Parish Committee, the Vice Chair, and the Secretary there are chairs of eight standing sub-committees resposible for the named areas. The President of Alliance and of Unity Club are also members.